7 Books Like The Paper Palace To Read In 2026

Some novels stay with us because of their plot. Others stay because they make us think about the lives we might have lived—the relationships we abandoned, the secrets we buried, and the choices that quietly shaped who we became. Miranda Cowley Heller’s The Paper Palace belongs firmly in the second category.

Below is a list of 7 books like The Paper Palace to read in 2026.

1. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

The Great Alone is a powerful choice for readers who loved the emotional intensity and complicated family relationships in The Paper Palace. The story follows Leni Allbright, a teenager whose family moves to remote Alaska hoping for a fresh start. Instead, isolation exposes serious problems within her family. Kristin Hannah explores love, fear, family loyalty, trauma, resilience, and survival, creating characters whose decisions have lasting consequences. Like The Paper Palace, the novel examines how childhood experiences continue shaping us as adults. Its atmospheric setting also adds another layer of tension, making this an immersive and emotionally unforgettable family drama.

2. The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo

Claire Lombardo's The Most Fun We Ever Had is perfect for readers who enjoy complicated families filled with love, secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings. The novel follows four adult sisters and their parents, revealing how each family member sees their shared history differently. Lombardo creates remarkably realistic characters who make mistakes while still genuinely caring about one another. Like The Paper Palace, the story explores family expectations, marriage, motherhood, sibling relationships, memory, and personal identity. What makes it especially compelling is its refusal to present family members as simply good or bad. Instead, we see how love and conflict can coexist inside even close families.

3. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half explores identity, family history, secrets, and the consequences of choices that continue across generations. Brit Bennett's novel follows twin sisters who grow up together but eventually create dramatically different lives. One returns to her hometown, while the other secretly passes as white and hides her origins. Like The Paper Palace, the novel examines how the past continues influencing the present, even when characters attempt to reinvent themselves. Bennett's shifting perspectives also allow us to understand how different family members interpret the same experiences. The result is an emotionally layered story about belonging, identity, race, family, and the lives we imagine.

4. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett's The Dutch House is an absorbing story about siblings, childhood, memory, wealth, and the lasting influence of the place where we grew up. Danny and Maeve Conroy remain emotionally connected to the magnificent house that shaped their childhood, even after their lives move in different directions. Readers who enjoyed The Paper Palace will appreciate the novel's exploration of how memory changes over time. Danny gradually realizes that his understanding of childhood was incomplete and heavily influenced by his sister's perspective. Patchett creates an intimate family drama that asks whether we can ever truly move beyond the places, people, and experiences that shaped us.

5. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett

Commonwealth begins with a seemingly small romantic encounter that eventually transforms two families. From that moment, Ann Patchett follows the children involved across decades, examining how their parents' decisions affect their relationships and memories. The novel is particularly compelling for readers who enjoyed the complicated relationships in The Paper Palace. Patchett explores adultery, divorce, blended families, childhood, resentment, love, and memory without reducing the characters to heroes or villains. One of its strongest ideas is that the same family event can be remembered completely differently by different people. It is a thoughtful, beautifully structured novel about how one decision can influence generations.

6. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Hello Beautiful is an emotional family saga centered on the Padavano sisters and the people whose lives become intertwined with theirs. Although the sisters appear extremely close, individual ambitions, relationships, grief, and personal struggles gradually create tensions within the family. Readers who loved The Paper Palace will appreciate its focus on family loyalty, marriage, identity, forgiveness, and emotional wounds. Ann Napolitano gives each character enough complexity to make their choices understandable, even when those choices cause pain. The novel demonstrates how families can simultaneously provide security and create conflict. For readers seeking contemporary literary fiction with strong emotional relationships, this is an excellent choice.

7. The Latecomers by Helen Klein Ross

The Latecomers explores friendship, family, marriage, privilege, and the complicated relationships people develop throughout adulthood. Rather than relying entirely on one dramatic storyline, Helen Klein Ross builds an interconnected portrait of people whose lives gradually become intertwined. This makes it appealing to readers who enjoy the relationship-driven storytelling of The Paper Palace. The novel examines personal choices, family obligations, friendship, romantic relationships, and the gap between appearances and reality. Its characters are imperfect and frequently forced to choose between competing responsibilities. If we enjoy literary fiction that focuses on the emotional consequences of ordinary decisions, The Latecomers offers an absorbing exploration of the complicated architecture of adult life.

Conclusion

The appeal of The Paper Palace is not simply its story. It is the feeling of being pulled into someone's memories and forced to consider how the past can shape the present.